Anti-Semitism Adapts and Thrives

The oldest hatred has assumed a new form for a new age: hostility to Zionism and Israel.

It wasn’t a failure of Holocaust remembrance that explains why Frazier Glenn Miller opened fire outside two Jewish community facilities in Overland Park, Kan., murdering three people on the day before Passover.

Miller, a 73-year-old former Ku Klux Klan grand dragon, knows all about the Holocaust – enough, at any rate, to extol Adolf Hitler as "the greatest man who ever walked the earth" and to shout "Heil Hitler!" after his arrest. Like his hero, Miller is obsessed with Jews. Asked once in an interview whom he hated more, blacks or Jews, he didn't hesitate: "Jews!" he said. "A thousand times more!"

Such anti-Semitic malevolence led 70 years ago to the Shoah – the industrial-scale annihilation of two-thirds of Europe's Jews: six million men, women, and children, among them my father's parents and four of his brothers and sisters. They were murdered not as a means to an end – not for their money or their land or because they posed a military or political threat – but as an end in itself. Hitler's purpose in exterminating the Jews was for the Jews to be exterminated.

For decades after the Holocaust, it was tempting to believe that such genocidal prejudice against Jews was a thing of the past, at least in the enlightened West. The world had seen what anti-Semitism at its most uninhibited could do. What people had been sure could never happen had happened – but by harnessing the power of memory, we could ensure that it never happened again. So Holocaust memorials and museums were erected in cities large and small. Concentration-camp survivors published their memoirs and spoke about their experiences. Students were taught about the Nazis and the Final Solution. Yom HaShoah – an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, which we mark this week – was added to the calendar each spring.

But Jew-hatred hasn't been purged. On the contrary: It has erupted in recent years with shocking scope and strength. It has been revived "in the halls of parliament and in the streets," writes political scientist Daniel Jonah Goldhagen in a new book, The Devil that Never Dies. "Among elites and common people. In public media, places of worship, and in the privacy of homes. Where Jews live and where they do not."

An old-style white-supremacist neo-Nazi like the shooter in Kansas, evil as his crime was, is the least of this resurgent threat, especially in this country. Hitler-idolizing anti-Semites like Miller, widely regarded as abhorrent, are a negligible phenomenon in the United States. His deadly rampage was instantly condemned across the board; only among the kooks did anyone express support for Miller's vilification of Jews.

Where anti-Semitism is gaining market share today is not among those who yell "Heil Hitler" or demonize Jews as Christ-killers. The oldest and most protean of hatreds has assumed a new form for a new age: hostility to Zionism and Israel. The classic anti-Semitic motifs – Jews are aliens, Jews are murderous, Jews are rapacious, Jews are disloyal, Jews manipulate governments – have been repurposed for a post-Holocaust generation that speaks with a post-Holocaust vocabulary.

Sophisticated and educated Westerners today know better than to blame "the Jews" for society's ills, or to suggest that the best solution to the "Jewish Problem" is for Jews to disappear.

But it is widely acceptable in many circles to debate whether the world's only Jewish state has a right to exist. Or to insist that the Middle East's turmoil would be resolved if only that Jewish state would make peace with its enemies by conceding to their demands. Or to claim with a straight face, when Israel defends itself against Arab and Islamist violence, that it is behaving as the Nazis did.

This helps explain why anti-Semitism soared in recent years even as Palestinian terrorism against Israel soared. For if Zionists are tantamount to Nazis – if the Jewish state is the equivalent of Hitler's Germany – then decent people everywhere must oppose it. Through endless repetition of the most odious "Israelis = Nazis" canards, the memory of the most lethal horror ever inflicted on the Jewish people has been transmuted into a new bludgeon with which to batter them. Meanwhile, waves of incitement build against the largest Jewish community on the planet, whipped up by enemies who make no secret of their ultimate goal: to annihilate it.

Thus does the old plague bacillus of anti-Semitism mutate and flourish once again, in the very shadow of the Holocaust memorials put up as a warning of what unchecked Jew-hatred can lead to. Truly, it is diabolical.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 14

(9)
Regine Z,
May 7, 2014 12:15 AM

ENVY is another word for DEVIL

As a daughter of Holocaust survivors (Nazis and Soviets, not much difference) and myself born in a refugee camp in Germany, I know how HUGE antisemetism really is. Just look at what the Jews have done with a deserted tiny strip of what looked like wasteland, how they created a dynamic powerhouse of a country in little over 60 years. Seen that happen in the history of the world? Murderous jealousy comes from the collective conscience of human nature and cannot be eradicated. Only Jews can save themselves, unfortunately that's the one thing we're not good at, as history has shown us so many times. Does anyone think if the Jews of Europe had been armed, that the Shoah would not have been as devastating? It's incredible how many Jews in America seem to suffer from Stockholm syndrome - delusional.

Irv Dain,
December 7, 2014 3:24 PM

NEVER AGAIN

Anti-Semitism still exists

Stephen Wolfe,
December 24, 2014 8:47 PM

The concept of hatered is growing so fast in America. We must remember.

That's right! Never again!

(8)
David Kaliski,
May 1, 2014 2:39 PM

murder, not extermination

We must not use the nazi term extermination. Jews are not vermin as the word implies.The Jews were murdered.

(7)
scott,
May 1, 2014 1:34 PM

Do something.

Yeah Antisemitism stinks. But it's not really news. Hashem told us that we would be the smallest of nations and no one would like us. So in a way, it's a blessing to know that G*d's words are true.

Am I saying we should sit idly by? No. We are commanded to kill Amalek, which is how I see the expression of antisemitism, the heritage of Amalek.

So what am I saying? We are commanded to fear Hashem, not Amalek. Stop complaining about antisemitism or presenting the fact of antisemitism as news. Tell us what to do. How to protect ourselves. And for the love of all that is holy tell Jews to get to Israel where we can stand as one people and defend ourselves in the land that G*d commanded us to occupy. If you choose to live in the lands where Jews are hated-seriously who is to blame here? It's not like G*d didn't tell you what the deal is.

What else am I saying? Stand as one people. A people where we do not allow special people to avoid defending their people because they have a tradition of not doing so. When G*d ordered us to send an army against Midian he ordered thousands from all of Israel giving no exception for the Levites and sending the high priest along as well. If G*d ordered the high priest and the Levites who had no holding the the land to stand against Midian, how can anyone claim that any Jew over 20 years old is exempt from service for any reason?

If we stand as one people in Israel-as flawed as we might be-I really don't think we need be afraid. We have G*d on our side.

Regina,
May 4, 2014 9:51 PM

Strong statement

Scott, you make some excellent points. Trust in Hashem and "Am Echad, Lev Echad" - if we could manage this, we wouldn't have to worry about the hatred that surrounds us. How do we cultivate unity?

(6)
Lois Homer,
April 30, 2014 5:51 PM

Stand up to anti-semitism, bigotry, racism

One day at lunch during work, my boss and I sat with a bunch of guys and one older man began shooting his mouth off about various nonense, his girlfriend, his wife, and then he mentioned the Jews who jewed him down on merchandise and other garbage. I spoke up in a very loud voice, almost shouting, 'I'M JEWISH!' That was all I had to say because that man shut up like a clam and the room got quieter than a library. His face turned beet red and no one spoke one word for the rest of the meal. Afterwards my boss told me that he felt bad because he liked me and didn't know I was Jewish. "Funny you don't look Jewish" so it's ok to talk trash about Jewish people? Not in my book. My daughter spoke up to a rude manager of a record shop years ago when he made a racist remark at her Afro American friend. I was proud of her. As for that jerk in the lunchroom, I didn't have to say another word because I made him look like the jackass he was.

(5)
Anonymous,
April 29, 2014 7:44 PM

its more than that

Comparing Jews to Nazis is, somehow, a way of saying they deserved the Holocaust. It is like blaming the Jews for the Holocaust, in retrospective.

John Rob,
April 30, 2014 11:19 AM

My own family, but not in my home .

My extended family are full of hate towards all things Jewish .The twisted minds of such haters stops at nothing to defame and injure any one who loves Judaism .They as xians and my brother in law the son of a Nazi are proud of their Adolph. I couldn't even attend the funeral of my mother .who was as twisted as them before she died .I believe it is envy more than hate they know the Jewish people are HaShem's chosen .

(4)
Sheila Novitz,
April 29, 2014 4:35 PM

Theft has always accompanied anti-Semitism

It's perfectly true that "Hitler's purpose in exterminating the Jews was for the Jews to be exterminated." It's also important to recall, however, that extermination and expulsion of our people, even pogroms, have always been accompanied by theft of our land, our jobs, our houses and our belongings including finances. "Golden Harvest" by Jan T Gross gives us perfect examples of this. Those who persecute us always have talked of "Jewish gold", "Jewish money", and have done all they could to rip our legitimate possessions from us. They are obsessed with the idea that we have "money" and "gold." Good evidence of this is that, still today, Polish peasants ransack the earth inside and outside Treblinka, unearthing skulls and bones of our people, hoping to find "Jewish gold." That this obsession is a stain on Poland goes unnoticed, and it is even condoned by Polish Catholic clergy. It is also important to recall that when our people were expelled from Arab countries (at the creation of Israel), they had to leave without possessions. The Arabs kept everything. Why has this been ignored by the entire world?

(3)
Robin Rosenblatt,
April 29, 2014 4:19 PM

American Jews who love their children unconditionally

American Jews who love their children unconditionally. Love Israel conditionally only if Israel does and behaves, as they want. If Israel violates one of those imposed conditions these Jews turn to helping the Palestinians who want to kill every Israeli and Jew.

If you love Israel unconditionally you won’t abandon and betray Israel as many of you have done.

If you stand up for yourselves and Israel you will be respected. If you don’t you will be seen as weak and disrespected and Anti Semitism increases.

That means you support Israel no matter which Government is in control.

(2)
Mati,
April 29, 2014 4:02 AM

A new threat is arising

The New Living Translation bible is nowhere near a translation. Rather it is a paraphrase. Under the guise of being "translated" it is presenting the greatest threat to causing hatred of Jews because of it uses "traditional" antisemitic misinterpretations of Jewish involvedment in the death of Jesus and the plot to kill him. The editors of this book acknowledges that it is not using traditional literal translation techniques in their "translation" but rather "dynamic equivalence translation" which is a different way of interpreting opinion into the text and thereby not be faithful to the text itself.

(1)
Bee,
April 29, 2014 3:49 AM

Only the kooks?

One "kook" was the mayor of the town. B"H he was forced to resign. When someone like this is popular enough to be mayor, that is distressing. The KKK is alive and well.

Sheila Novitz,
April 29, 2014 4:42 PM

Distressing but not surprising

This is distressing but not surprising, because anti-Semitism everywhere is alive and well. All my life I have felt surprised each time a barb has been directed at me. It's about time that we, and I, stopped being surprised. We must just expect it, but this doesn't mean we must not fight back in every possible way! Sad, isn't it, how limited our fight-back has to be. In my country, they are now trying to pass a law whereby racism will have to be tolerated, because the law will say it is not wrong.

I was born with a neuromuscular disease known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy and have been confined to a wheelchair my entire life. Unfortunately my sister and I were raised without any religious instruction or guidance. My father wasn't Jewish and although my mother is, she openly claims to be an atheist. The "good news" is that both my sister and myself - independent of each other and at different times in our lives - realized that we are Jewish and chose to live a Jewish life.

Because of my disability, I'm not always able to attend services on Shabbat, but I always light candles, pray from a Siddur and read the weekly Torah portion. I would like to know whether, considering my situation, if using a computer is allowed during the Sabbath? I found the complete Bible online and since my computer is voice-activated I don't have to struggle to turn pages or continuously ask for assistance.

Thank you to everyone at Aish.com for making it possible for myself and so many others to learn about being Jewish and grow in the most important part of our lives.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Thank you so much for your encouraging words and for sharing your inspiring story.

God gives each of us a set of challenges. To those more capable of conquering difficulties, He gave bigger challenges. A challenge from God is a sign that He cares about us and has confidence in our ability to become great.

It sounds like you're doing great!

As for using the computer on Shabbat, that is prohibited. A foundation of Judaism is that we need to respect God's wishes, even if we think that doing otherwise is "for a good reason." Consider this story:

A king calls in his trusted minister and says: "I have an important mission for you to perform. Go to the neighboring kingdom and meet in the palace with their leaders. But remember one thing - under no circumstances must you remove your shirt during this meeting. Now go and do as I say."

The minister sets off on his merry way and soon arrives at the neighboring kingdom. There he heads straight for the palace where he meets with the King. In the midst of their discussion, he sees some of the king's officers pointing and laughing at him.

"Why are you laughing?" asks the visiting minister.

"Because we've never seen someone with such a pronounced hunchback as yourself," they say.

"What are you talking about? I'm not a hunchback!"

"Of course you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"We'll bet you one million dollars that you are!"

"Fine - I'll gladly take your bet."

"Okay, so take off your shirt and prove it."

At which point the minister remembers the parting words of the king... "under no circumstances must you remove your shirt during the meeting." Yet, the minister reasons, a million dollars would certainly bring added wealth to the king's coffers. I know I'm not a hunchback, so I'll surely win the bet. Of course, under these circumstances the king would approve...

The minister removes his shirt and proudly displays his perfect posture. With pride in his achievement, he holds out his hand, into which is placed a check for one million dollars.

The minister can barely contain his excitement. He quickly ends the meeting and runs back to give the wonderful news to his king. "I earned you a million dollars!" exclaims the minister. "It was easy. I only had to remove my shirt to prove that I wasn't a hunchback."

"You did what?!" shouts the king. "But I told you specifically not to remove your shirt. I trusted that you'd follow instructions, and so I bet the other king $10 million dollars that he couldn't get you to remove your shirt!"

The Torah tells us "Do not add or subtract from the mitzvahs." (Deut. 4:2) Jewish law is a precise metaphysical science. Consider a great work of art. Would you consider adding a few notes to a Bach fugue, or some brushstrokes to a Rembrandt portrait?!

Perfection, by definition, cannot be improved upon. Altering Torah law is an unacceptable implication that God is lacking.

The verse in Psalms 19:8 declares: "Torat Hashem Temimah" - the Torah of God is complete. For just as adding one wire to a transistor radio means it no longer can pick up reception, so too we mustn't tinker with Jewish law. The mitzvahs of God are perfect.

May the Almighty give you strength to continue your growth in Judaism.

In 1315, King Louis X of France called back the Jews who had been expelled a few decades earlier by King Louis IX. This marked a theme in Jewish-French life: expulsions and subsequent invitations to return. The French monarchy was trying to establish their land as the "new Jerusalem," and to fulfill this mission attempted several crusades to Israel. In 1615, King Louis XIII ordered that Christians were forbidden to speak with Jews, upon penalty of death. Eventually, in 1683, King Louis XIV expelled the Jews from the colony of Martinique.

Focus on what you do want. Make your goal explicit. “My goal is to increase my moments of joy.” This way, every single moment of joy is a successful moment.

Celebrate each moment of joy. Be grateful every time you experience joy.

Having this goal will place your attention on joy. Instead of feeling bad when you are not joyful, you will experience positive feelings about experiencing more joy.

Each moment of joy in your entire life is experienced one moment at a time. You can’t have more than one moment of joy in any given moment, but you can increase the number of joyful moments. How? By focusing on it.

There is no person on earth so righteous, who does only good and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

Reading the suggestions for ridding oneself of character defects, someone might say, "These are all very helpful for someone who has character defects, but I do not see anything about myself that is defective."

In the above-cited verse, Solomon states what we should all know: no one is perfect. People who cannot easily find imperfections within themselves must have a perception so grossly distorted that they may not even be aware of major defects. By analogy, if a person cannot hear anything, it is not that the whole world has become absolutely silent, but that he or she has lost all sense of hearing and may thus not be able to hear even the loudest thunder.

In his monumental work, Duties of the Heart, Rabbeinu Bachaye quotes a wise man who told his disciples, "If you do not find defects within yourself, I am afraid you have the greatest defect of all: vanity." In other words, people who see everything from an "I am great/right" perspective will of course believe that they do no wrong.

When people can see no faults in themselves, it is generally because they feel so inadequate that the awareness of any personal defects would be devastating. Ironically, vanity is a defense against low self-esteem. If we accept ourselves as fallible human beings and also have a sense of self-worth, we can become even better than we are.

Today I shall...

be aware that if I do not find things within myself to correct, it may be because I am threatened by such discoveries.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...